Supercarrier: The Ixan Prophecies Trilogy, Book 1

Captain Keyes is loved by the public but hated by Command. He captains the UHS Providence, an aging supercarrier and the last human ship not dependent on dark tech - technology humanity has used to rule over the galaxy since barely defeating the Ixa in the First Galactic War.

Eden's Gate: The Reborn: A LitRPG Adventure, Book 1

When Gunnar Long is transported into the first fully-immersive virtual MMORPG, he finds himself in a new world filled with magic, mystery, and adventure. No more 9-to-5 job. No more studio apartment. No more reality TV. Finally, he's in a place where he can call home, a place with people he can call friends. But as more people want to trade their real world lives to get inside Eden's Gate, the government of the outside world wants the "game" shut down at all costs.

The Ember War: Publisher's Pack, Books 1-2

The Ember War, book 1: The Earth is doomed. Humanity has a chance. In the near future, an alien probe arrives on Earth with a pivotal mission: to determine if humanity has what it takes to survive the impending invasion by a merciless armada. The probe discovers Marc Ibarra, a young inventor who holds the key to a daring gambit that could save a fraction of Earth's population. Humanity's only chance lies with Ibarra's ability to keep a terrible secret and engineer the planet down the narrow path to survival.

Warship: Black Fleet Trilogy, Book 1

In the 25th century, humans have conquered space. The advent of faster-than-light travel has opened up hundreds of habitable planets for colonization, and humans have exploited the virtually limitless space and resources for hundreds of years with impunity. So complacent have they become with the overabundance that armed conflict is a thing of the past, and their machines of war are obsolete and decrepit. What would happen if they were suddenly threatened by a terrifying new enemy?

The Complete Exodus Trilogy: Books 1-3

When an object threatens human civilization, it becomes clear that we need to venture to the stars. With just a few years' warning, this will be a race against time, and only a small number of colonists can be saved. In an America turned authoritarian, a small group of people draws up their plans to change not this world but the next. The confrontation seems inevitable, but who will prevail and at what cost?

Columbus Day: Expeditionary Force, Book 1

The Ruhar hit us on Columbus Day. There we were, innocently drifting along the cosmos on our little blue marble, like the Native Americans in 1492. Over the horizon came ships of a technologically advanced, aggressive culture, and BAM! There went the good old days, when humans got killed only by each other. So, Columbus Day. It fits. When the morning sky twinkled again, this time with Kristang starships jumping in to hammer the Ruhar, we thought we were saved.

Steel World: Undying Mercenaries, Book 1

In the twentieth century Earth sent probes, transmissions and welcoming messages to the stars. Unfortunately, someone noticed. The Galactics arrived with their battle fleet in 2052. Rather than being exterminated under a barrage of hell-burners, Earth joined their vast Empire. Swearing allegiance to our distant alien overlords wasn't the only requirement for survival. We also had to have something of value to trade, something that neighboring planets would pay their hard-earned credits to buy.

TFS Ingenuity: The Terran Fleet Command Saga, Book 1

It's the year 2277. For 50 years, Earth has received mysterious data transmissions from random locations in deep space. The streams include advanced technology, allowing humans to achieve faster-than-light travel virtually overnight. As we prepare to take our first tentative steps into interstellar space, we know almost nothing about our alien benefactors, and their motivations remain unexplained.

Off Armageddon Reef: Safehold Series, Book 1

When Earth herself lay under siege by an enemy humankind could not defeat, mankind undertook one last throw of the dice: Operation Ark. Earth's final colonizing expedition was meant to build a new civilization, on a planet so distant even the Gbaba might never find it, and without the high-tech infrastructure whose emissions might betray its location.

Renegade: Spiral Wars, Book 1

One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity's new Homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity's most powerful industrial family, is framed with his murder.

Battle Cruiser: Lost Colonies, Book 1

One starship will either save Earth or destroy her. A century ago our star erupted, destroying Earth's wormhole network and closing off trade with her colonized planets. After being out of contact with the younger worlds for so many years, Humanity is shocked when a huge ship appears at the edge of the solar system. Our outdated navy investigates, both curious and fearful. What they learn from the massive vessel shocks the planet.

Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars, 1

Humanity's last encounter with aliens saw 16.2 billion people killed in a war with the Merkiaari that had spanned decades. Two hundred years later, the Alliance is cautiously exploring beyond its borders again, but the survey corp is considered a mere gesture by some. General Burgton of the 501st Infantry Regiment believes a lack of expansion is leading the Alliance into stagnation. So when one small ship discovers a new alien race, it should be an easy decision to make contact, but what if the aliens are like the Merkiaari?

The World Walker: The World Walker Series, Book 1

Just outside Los Angeles, a prisoner hidden away for 70 years sits up, gets off the bed and disappears through a solid wall. In Australia, a magician impresses audiences by producing real elephants. Nobody realizes it's not an illusion. Across the world, individuals and organizations with supernatural power suddenly detect the presence of something even they can't understand. At the center of it all, Seb Varden, a 32-year old musician with a secret in his past, slits his wrists, is shot dead and run over on the freeway.

A Learning Experience, Book 1

When a bunch of interstellar scavengers approach Earth intending to abduct a few dozen humans and sell them into slavery in the darkest, they make the mistake of picking on Steve Stuart and his friends, ex-military veterans all. Unprepared for humans who can actually fight, unaware of the true capabilities of their stolen starships, the scavengers rapidly lose control of the ship - and their lives.

The Oncoming Storm: Angel in the Whirlwind, Book 1

In the year 2420, war looms between the galaxy's two most powerful empires: the tyrannical Theocracy and the protectionist Commonwealth. Caught in the middle sits the occupied outpost system Cadiz, where young officer and aristocrat Katherine "Kat" Falcone finds herself prematurely promoted at the behest of her powerful father. Against her own wishes, Kat is sent to command the Commonwealth navy's newest warship, Lightning.

Starship's Mage Omnibus: Starship's Mage Series #1

In a galaxy tied together by the magic of the elite Jump Magi, Damien Montgomery is a newly graduated member of their number. With no family or connections to find a ship, he is forced into service on an interstellar freighter known to be hunted by pirates. When he takes drastic action to save the Blue Jay from their pursuers, he sets in motion a sequence of events beyond his control and attracts enemies on both sides of the law.

Democracy's Right: Democracy's Right, Book 1

A tyranny stretching over thousands of worlds. The grand dreams of the founders are a joke. The Thousand Families, the rulers of the Empire, care nothing for anything save their own power. From the undercity of Earth to the new colonies at the Rim, discontent, anger, and rebellion seethe, but there is no hope of breaking the power of the Empire and freeing the trillions of enslaved humans and aliens.

Constitution

The year is 2650. Seventy-five years ago, an alien fleet attacked Earth. Without warning. Without mercy. We were not prepared. Hundreds of millions perished. Dozens of cities burned. We nearly lost everything. Then the aliens abruptly left. We rebuilt. We armed ourselves. We swore: never again. But the aliens never came back. Until now. With overwhelming force the aliens have returned, striking deep into our territory, sending Earth into a panic.

Soulstone: Awakening: A LitRPG Novel: World of Ruul, Volume 1

Aaron Hope plays video games, like a lot, just not professionally. When he entered the EpiX! Games! PVP World Championship on a lark, this college senior never expected to make it to the final round, nor to get drugged and shoved into the alpha test for World of Ruul. The premise for this virtual reality MMO is simple. Find all eight treasures scattered throughout the world before the maelstrom's forces devour everything in sight. The only catch? You can't log off, and if you die...well, let's just say what happens in the game doesn't stay in the game.

Space Carrier Avalon

Avalon was the flagship of the Castle Federation in the last war, now 20 years past. The first of the deep space carriers, no other warship in the fleet holds as many honors or has recorded as many kills. No other warship in the fleet is as old. Accepting the inevitable, the Federation Space Navy has decided to refit her and send her on a tour of the frontier, showing the flag to their allies and enemies as a reminder of her glory - and then decommission her for good.

Delvers LLC: Welcome to Ludus

Henry and Jason led normal lives in Seattle before they were abducted to another world. Their kidnapper, the vain, self-styled god Dolos, refuses to send them back unless they can accomplish an impossible task. Oddly, Dolos doesn't seem to care if they succeed or not. Luckily, Henry and Jason studied Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) on Earth. Unfortunately, a Japanese American EMT and a geeky IT programmer don't have many other useful skills on a sword-and-sorcery world like Ludus.

Earth Alone: Earthrise, Book 1

They came from deep space. They came to destroy us. Fifty years ago bloodthirsty aliens devastated the Earth. Most of humanity perished. We fell into darkness. But now we rise from the ashes. Now we fight back. Marco Emery was born into the war. After his mother is killed, he joins the Human Defense Force, Earth's ragtag army. Emery must survive basic training, become a soldier, and finally face the aliens in battle. Against the alien onslaught, Earth stands alone. But we will fight. We will rise. We will win.

The Silver Ships: The Silver Ships, Book 1

An explorer tug captain, Alex Racine detects a damaged alien craft drifting into the system. Recognizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make first contact, Alex pulls off a daring maneuver to latch on to the derelict. Alex discovers the ship was attacked by an unknown craft, the first of its kind ever encountered. The mysterious silver ship's attack was both instant and deadly.

The Terran Privateer: The Duchy of Terra, Book 1

Earth is conquered. Sol is lost. One ship is tasked to free them. One Captain to save them all. When an alien armada destroys the United Earth Space Force and takes control of the human homeworld, newly reinstated Captain Annette Bond must take her experimental hyperspace cruiser Tornado into exile as Terra's only interstellar privateer. She has inferior technology, crude maps, and no concept of her enemy, but the seedy underbelly of galactic society welcomes her so long as she has prizes to sell and money to spend.

Publisher's Summary

Commander Jonathan Radec is a man desperately trying to escape from the mistakes of his past. Now the owner of Vanguard Shipping, his primary concerns are trying to keep his ships flying and his crew alive. However, the shadowy Syndicate organization has set their sights on the commander and his business, having sent a beautiful assassin to kill him. To make matters worse, she's become the target of his infatuation, much to the dismay of his ex-girlfriend. Recently elevated to president of the Confederation, she's still very much in love with him and capable of making his life a living hell.

Surrounded by a galaxy beginning to tear itself apart, with enemies on all sides, he's now also unwillingly tasked with trying to save the Confederation - for which he has little regard. Jon has little going in his favor, except a crew consisting of the elite of the old Imperial Navy, all of whom would fight to the death for him, and a past that possibly makes him one of the most dangerous men alive.

Too much smut for a book of this sort. I'd gladly exchange smut for science world building contentToo cheesy: boy from the wrong side of the tracks meets princess, blah, blah, blahToo stereo-typed: I guess the cold war is back on, all Russian sounding people are evilNo diversity: There are only white people in the future

The Good:

The narrator is solid and does a very large range of accents very well indeed. He's very easy to listen to, I wish he'd read game of thrones books, then I would purchase them

The writing is not terrible, it's good enough to be entertaining but not good enough to have made any impact on the reader/listener. It was entertaining enough for me to get the next book. I don't feel that author has added anything to the genre.

Since I listened to Steven Moss's "Fear the Sky" I am yet to listen to another Scifi book that comes close in terms of writing and story quality. I wait impatiently for "Fear the Survivors"

Had David Benjamin Bliss not done such a great job of making this very predictable story engaging, I would have stopped listening within the first few hours. The story is totally devoid of originality, though that alone would not have turned me off. It also, contains so many clichés and inconsistencies, not to mentions the glaring changes in personality the main character displays throughout the story, makes it difficult to listen to the end. It was only DBB's characterizations that got me through. Also, all the characters in the book seemed to be of the European variety and only humanoid (not to mention being very male oriented, there is a grand total of three female characters, four if you count the second-in-command's wife who is referred to on several occasions, but never seen). Now, I am not advocating for alien species or all female navy contingents, it's just that I am not really sure how this can happen in such a vast empire. Somewhere there has to be many more women and people of color. And I doubt that they would be completely like us. I also take issue with Commander Jonathan Radec’s (the main protagonist) super human status. I mean really, he can't out smart everyone and win every battle, its gets boring after a while. And OMG, if you mention one more time that Radec is tall, blond, handsome, strong cheekbones, an amazing physical appearance, and on top of that dressed in his crisp white navy uniform, I think I will scream. He is (literally) the White Knight of the story, Ok, we got it Mr. Disney. The story as a whole, like I said, is predictable, but that won’t stop me from listening to the next two in the series, I just hope that the author (Mike Smith) ups his game.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

09/02/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"porn in Space"

good performance, but the story is not. I want to know about the protagonist not how he makes love...

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

06/03/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"An Enjoyable, Uncomplicated SciFi Listen"

If you could sum up The Last Praetorian in three words, what would they be?

Well-paced<br/>Uncomplicated<br/>Engaging<br/>

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Last Praetorian?

The bar scene

What about David Benjamin Bliss’s performance did you like?

His voice is clear and easy to understand. Not monotone but also not overly pushed with character inflections.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

It was emotionally engaging and kept my interest but it did not drive me to cry. I'm quite certain I laughed a few times.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

James

05/02/16

Overall

Performance

Story

"excellent"

Very enjoyable. Easy for me to relate to the characters. Unique in a very comfortable way.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Douglas E. Noll

15/09/15

Overall

Performance

Story

"Passable, but needs work"

If you could sum up The Last Praetorian in three words, what would they be?

Decent story marred by sub-par reading and very poor copy editing,

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Last Praetorian?

None come to mind.

What three words best describe David Benjamin Bliss’s voice?

Juvenile-sounding inexperienced reader

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No.

Any additional comments?

The book has a good premise and decent characterization, which makes it worth listening to. However, it is marred by a poor reader whose inflections, emphasis, and sarcasm are juvenile-sounding. In addition, this book was apparently not copy-edited as there are a number of glaring syntax errors. There is, for example, no such word as "orientate," yet the author persists in using it. Sloppy work all around. I am about to purchase and listen to the next story in the series. Hopefully, these rookie errors have been corrected.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

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